Posted by Andrew Hughes on November 15, 2009 at 12:32pm
Hello. First post , and I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, so sorry for any mistakes. So I've actually started on my banjo. I bought an old egmont acoustic 6 string guitar in pieces for a couple of quid. I've taken the neck and cut it down to 5 string banjo proportions. I took most of the varnish off to find some quite nice beech. I've also, very badly, modified the headstock - taking my design inspiration from a roll of masking tape. I like the look though. To cut the neck down, first of all I marked out where I wanted to make my cuts, then I cut through the frets with a cutting disk on a dremel. Then I cut off the excess with a nice Japanese pull saw. I'm going to have to build up the neck under the last 6 frets to make it long enough for my box though, so I need to find a lump of wood that fits.... Box should arrive this week.
Nice work with a pull saw. I've got mental plans for a banjo but didn't think to cut down a guitar neck. Do you plan to tune it GDGBD? The reason I ask is that if I remember correctly, a banjo scale is typically longer than a guitar scale. I'm wondering if you'll have enough tension on the strings with it tuned that way. I'm considering making mine a "short scale" banjo that I'll tune AEAC#E. Who needs a capo?
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